Although Mari and I were preoccupied with Hulu Plus landing on Roku earlier this week, two other bits of H+ news crossed the wire. Wednesday evening, I noticed and grabbed the Hulu Plus iOS update pictured above. I’ve been grossly negligent in hitting the gym lately, which is where I do most of my catch-up TV watching. So I can’t really comment on any iPhone improvements. However, the new iPad split screen view seems like it could be significant. Additionally, after being pleasantly surprised to find Hulu Plus chock full of movie trailers via Roku, I tried to get at them via the iPhone app… but came up empty. So perhaps Hulu’s mobile UI still needs some work.
More importantly, Hulu has dropped their monthly subscription fee from $10 to $8. Which isn’t quite the 50% price cut many were hoping for. Generally speaking, you find more customers at lower prices. However, folks are still bothered by commercial interruption (without stopping to consider their cable company does the same thing) and inconsistant content availability… dependent upon viewing devices and inscrutable schedules or business dealings. Regardless, I’ll take the discount and keep my subscription going for the time being. And I applaud Hulu for doing right by their customers — check out the email I received:
Since we’re now offering Hulu Plus at a lower price than during the preview, your subscription fee has been lowered to $7.99/month, and on your next billing cycle, we’ll also automatically credit your account with $2 for each month you’ve been a subscriber. In addition, we’re now offering a 1-week free trial for all new subscribers, so we’ll be issuing you an additional $2 credit since the free trial wasn’t in place during the preview.
Related, Hulu has introduced a referral program. If you sign up for Hulu Plus via an affiliate link your free trial is two weeks instead of one. And I too shall receive a free two weeks of service as compensation. You know what to do. Although I prefer you buy a TiVo or Roku to watch it on. ;)